Public relations is strategically creating and managing a favorable public image by curating content and relationships.  Successful PR can be a critical component to achieving and maintaining corporate growth, and below we share our four top strategies for developing and distributing content that will delight and engage your audience.

At Rivergate Marketing, we focus on digital marketing and communications for service-oriented high-tech business-to-business (B2B) companies.  For nearly a decade we have successfully enabled our clients to achieve their marketing goals. The following four principles of our PR strategy have enabled us to bring success to our clients and have the power to bring success to yours, too:

1. Marketing and public relations require a holistic approach company-wide. Assure that everyone in your company is on the same page in terms of your company’s value proposition.

• Marketing, sales, engineering and all the departments in between should understand the company’s clear, cohesive and compelling message.
• Empower all employees to be spokespeople for your brand, not just the marketing department or CEO.

2. Customer insight is imperative to develop relevant and engaging content. Take advantage of the natural exchange of information that occurs between your employees and your customers. Developing a method to capture and report this valuable feedback will allow for the evolution of your marketing message.

• Features and benefits have very limited value to attract today’s internet-savvy customers. Potential customers want to be educated before they enter the buying process with a company.
• In order to provide education for prospective customers, the collective marketing team needs to identify what drives a customer’s buying decision. What pain points or events happening within the customer’s business are prompting engagement with your company? What are the common characteristics of your most successful and satisfied customers?

3. Integrity is the backbone of successful media relations. The rise of internet search makes it hard to hide – transparency is here to stay.

• Business-to-Business (B2B) consumers only want to buy from brands they trust. Using your company’s specific areas of expertise will be critical to establishing authority, thought leadership and ultimately, trust in your brand.
• A strong customer service team will play an important role in establishing and maintaining trust and loyalty from your clients.

4. A successful media relations program starts with ideas, flourishes with thought leadership and comes to fruition with relationships. In order to secure a steady cadence of media coverage, foster strong relationships and ongoing conversations with top-priority trade and business press targets.

• Encourage and challenge your employees to keep abreast of hot industry topics through trainings and professional development opportunities and deliver fresh thinking so they can act as a resource for the media and drive thought leadership.
• Don’t shy away from an aggressive media-relations approach, which is done through constant communication, innovative thinking and having the courage to express controversial points of view when appropriate.

A successful public relations program is so much more than just the quotes you see in trade publications.  It starts by building the foundation with a knowledgeable team and a trusted reputation.